This week I was heckled for my lazy pronunciation of shui3jiao3, “boiled dumplingâ€, which apparently sounded more like shui4jiao4, “to sleepâ€, making the restaurant name Grandma’s Dumplings, sound something like Grandma is sleeping.
This mistake is another example (as if anyone needed more) of the importance of tones in Mandarin. For non-native speakers, Chinese can appear an extremely homonym-ridden language. I’ve had classmates who’ve been very confused by teachers telling them: “You knew!†when they’ve been late for class, not hearing the difference between 迟到 chi2dao4, “to arrive late†and çŸ¥é“ zhi1dao â€to know, be aware ofâ€.
After some time in China, most Chinese learners pick up the different tones and realize that there aren’t quite as many identical words as there might seem at first. However, even native speakers agree that many words sound alike. This phenomenon is an endless source of puns, tongue twisters and superstitions. Thus number four is considered unlucky because it sounds like “deathâ€, (some buildings even lack the deadly fourth floor) while eight is lucky since it, with some good will, sounds like “earn moneyâ€. In Beijing I came across the numbers 一,二,三,å››,五,å…,七,å…«,é…’ (one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, wine) sprayed on wall, funny for those who know that “nine†and “wine†sound alike. Or well, funny if you like word games…
This kind of humor even spills over to other languages in China: I once substituted for a class where the kids found the word “guys†immensely amusing, since they thought it sounded like the (fairly mild) swear word â€œè¯¥æ» gai1si4â€.
Another (not so mild) swear word involving “your motherâ€, happens to sound quite a lot like the words â€œè‰ cao3â€, grass, “泥ni2â€, mud and â€é©¬ma3â€, horse. If you enjoy potty mouthed humor (as I do), check out the â€Grass mud horse song†on Youtube.
That “nine/wine” one works on a couple levels. I’ve always stated (and am ™ing it here) that if I ever open a bar in China I’m going to call it The98.
I had a class of students that couldn’t stop giggling whenever you’d try to teach them “muffin” as it sounded like “ma3fen4” or horse crap.
Your elevator is also missing floors 13, 14, 24 and 34… seems, excessive.
I’ve lost count of the amount of times i’ve asked a friend how I say something in Chinese, even as simple as asking where the toilet is, then after trying to repeat that Chinese just being met with a blank stare.
The tones are a real killer fo me.
Sorry, Ryan, you’re way too late. When I lived in Taiyuan, 2000 – 2001, there was a bar called 98é…’å§. It was quite popular, from what I recall.
nice post
btw, u ll find more fantastic stuff like this in some dialect in China.
for instance, æ—¥(ri4) （originally and correctly means the sun） in Sichuan and Chongqing it means to fuck or damn it. in fact, this word is very offensive, be aware of using this 🙂 u d better use 太阳（tai4yang2）
Try asking for wasabi in a restaurant hehehe. Actually it’s called qÄ«ngjièlà or lvjièmo in Chinese (green mustard). However, wasabi sounds like you are saying “I am a stupid cunt”. (wÇ’ shÇŽbÄ«)
The odd Chinese/English dictionary doesnt even have wasabi listed.
Try asking for wasabi in a restaurant hehehe. Actually it’s called qÄ«ngjièlà or lvjièmo in Chinese (green mustard). However, wasabi sounds like you are saying “I am a stupid cuntâ€. (wÇ’ shÇŽbÄ«)
The odd Chinese/English dictionary doesnt even have wasabi listed.
HAHA. I can’t stop laughing about this one!!!
OMG, I almostly laughed to death when I heard the song!!!â€Grass mud horse song”. and not only it has the “grass mud horse” point, it also has”he2xie4″ (河蟹）which sounds like “he2xie2″（和è°ï¼‰,thinking about the harmony society. There’re another two extremely funny lines about “grass mud horse” which I am sure every person (chinese people or people who knows chinese swear words)who don’t look at the subtitles just listen will find them.
我喷了~~（笑喷了）
It fascinates me that the Chinese seem to understand each other, even though everything sounds so similar.
@Ryan, I think it’s nice that they also respect Western superstitions ;), that house is now completely safe!
Skipped the death floor too, #4
J.
and i thought my apartment bldg was excessive for skipping 4, 14, 24 and 34. 13 too? something needs to be done as china becomes more multiculural to not offend visitors but still maintain a certain chinese-ness.
“sure. which floor are you on?”
“floor of the ox”
“alright no problem. which ox? wood?”
“nope. water”
“ox, water. got it. alright your food will be there in about an hour”
anyway that’d cover enough floors for most buildings.
give u guys this, get prepared xiao4 si3 ni3 (laugh to death)
http://www.tudou.com/playlist/playindex.do?lid=5050469&iid=27536023
its completely and accurately a one-word-to-one-word chinese-english translation… 🙂
“You don’t carry gun / I don’t carry gun / who protect our mother” Holy crap that’s funny. Seriously folks you have to visit that link Danny L suggested above.
audio – or it didn’t happen! 😛
GEE, that is so funny. How do you find these?~ Should save the link.
🙂 there s tons of fun stuff in China’s internet…
as a resident its of course easy to find that.
speaking of that video link, just right under the video column are 4 other videos also fun making. u can easily find them, which r marked by 1,2,3,4,5. have fun then.
kinda busy lately, i ll be coming back sharing interesting stuff with u guys before long.
btw, the 5th is killing me…. hahaha Spicy girl (辣妹å la4 mei4 zi0 a beautiful girl who like spicy food, but virtually, it s referring to beauty, kindness, passion, charm,no hesitation to love, etc. kinda too ideal, haha )
@ Danny L, I am also a Chinese resident.
é¢ï¼Œ 真是åŒä¸€ä¸ªä¸–界，åŒä¸€ä¸ªæ¢¦æƒ³å•Š 到处都有åŒèƒž
一开始我还以为这个网站被和è°äº†ï¼Œç»“果刚æ‰ä¸€ç™¾åº¦ï¼Œå±…然还是有，ä¸è¿‡è²Œä¼¼æœ‰äº›é“¾æŽ¥æ˜¯è¢«å’Œè°äº†ã€‚。。
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>>Danny L
>>February 26, 2009
>>10:09 pm
>>nice post
>>btw, u ll find more fantastic stuff like this in >>some dialect in China.
>>for instance, æ—¥(ri4) （originally and correctly >>means the sun） in Sichuan and Chongqing it means >>to fuck or damn it. in fact, this word is very >>offensive, be aware of using this 🙂 u d better >>use 太阳（tai4yang2）
æ—¥(ri4) is the pronoucation of the North East China Dialect “å…¥”,东北方言的”å…¥”. å…¥ means enter,you can
imagine that’s action of fuck.